Visiting Seoul, South Korea

Almost a year ago I visited the city of Seoul in South Korea for the wedding of one of my sons to a Korean girl. I had previously met most of my future daughter-in-law's family but had never been to Korea before.

Exploring Seoul, the largest city in South Korea was not difficult. In a city of almost twelve million, one would not expect this to be the case. The Metro system is easy to navigate and taxis are incredibly reasonable and easy to get. Most drivers, however, do not speak English or it is extremely limited. But with a map of the city or an address, there is no difficulty. I had no trouble travelling around in this way and the drivers were very helpful and friendly. As a woman on my own, I did not feel uncomfortable or nervous travelling in the city by myself.

In one instance, when I was going to the home of my future daughter-in-law, there were many apartment buildings and the taxi driver drove around until he was sure he had the correct address. Another time when I was visiting one of the many palaces, the driver pulled in so I wouldn't have to cross the street and pointed over to where the entrance was.

On a visit to the National Folklore Museum, while I was looking around, a young girl came up and asked if I would like her to show me around. Although there was some English on the signage, she told me more background history than I would have known otherwise.

After discovering that I was visiting the city to attend the wedding of my son to a Korean girl, she took a special interest and showed me the entire process of life from ancient times to the present. It was very useful in helping me understand Korean life and customs as well as their wedding traditions and I found it to be an extremely interesting place to visit.

My next stop was the Gyeonbokgung Palace which means 'Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven'. Construction of the original palace began in 1395 representing the sovereignty of the Joseon Dynasty. Razed by invasions of the Japanese between 1592 and 1598, it was not rebuilt until 1868. At that time about 500 buildings were erected on over forty hectares. I was overwhelmed by the immenseness of the grounds and the many buildings. Planning to meet my son there, I realized the futility of ever finding him. We did eventually meet at the entrance/exit gates where we watched the unique process of the changing of the guards ceremony.

Our next stop was Deokgung Palace which is also part of the Joseon Dynasty. The back of the building had secret passageways to the Russian Emissary which exist to this day. My son and I were able to catch the changing of the guards here as well. At both palaces the guards wear traditional clothing but the attire and the ceremonies are quite different at each of the palaces.

Later, being joined by my future daughter-in-law, we made our way to Insadong Street. It is the focal point of Korean traditional culture, folk crafts and traditional clothing as well as the center for artists, craftsmen and art lovers alike. Art events and festivals are held along this 700 meter long street and vehicles are not permitted during weekends. The shops were interesting and tea was offered for tasting at one shop which was a wonderful respite on an extremely cold winter day.

On another day, two companions and myself went to Myeongdong Market. With its countless shops, stores and stalls, it apparently is one of the busiest places in Seoul. Shopping malls are interspersed with street stalls selling inexpensive items with prices that can be negotiated. But even the shops offer reasonable prices. A companion, who had lost her glasses, bought two pairs for a total of just over $200, including an eye examination and for a total wait time of under one hour. It is considered the ultimate shopping experience in Seoul.

Other attractions in Seoul are Namdaemun Market which is the oldest and largest in all of Korea dating back to 1414 and the Jongmyo Shrine dedicated to the deceased kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty. Built in 1394, the Japanese burned it down during the Seven Year War. It was later rebuilt in 1601. It still has the original tablets in memory of past kings and queens which had been hidden by peasants.

We stayed at a hotel fairly central to many of the tourist attractions and if not a good walk, at least not a long taxi ride. Surrounded by an assortment of eating establishments, the rooms were clean and wifi was available.

We were in South Korea in the middle of January which was extremely cold. But according to my daughter-in-law, May and September are the best months to visit Seoul. So I tucked that useful bit of information away to remember for any visits in the future.

Korean Wedding Customs

How do Korean weddings differ from traditional North American weddings? The differences between the two cultures becomes something that is necessary to consider for those who are entering into mixed marriages.

In my own family, two of my sons have mixed marriages. In some cases the two cultures meld and combine their different customs and in other cases, it will be strictly one way or the other. How is the best way to handle this sometimes delicate situation? Is it a decision made by the wedding couple or one made by the parents?

It is often the Asian parents who decide on whether the wedding will be American or one with their own customs since they have more strongly held traditions than do most North Americans. This may not be the case if they live in North America. But if the parents still live in Korea, they will be considerably more attached to their customs.

The ancient Korean customs of the groom travelling to the bride's house on horseback before the wedding and of the bride being transported back to the groom's house by sedan chair to live three days after the wedding, obviously is not done anymore. Nowadays there is a mix of Korean customs with some of the Western wedding traditions incorporated as was the case with my one son and daughter-in-law.

In times past also, the bride as well as the bride and groom's mothers wore hanboks consisting of a short jacket, long skirt and pantaloons. And the groom wore loose fitting trousers with a long colorful overcoat known as a gwanbok with a black hat. Nowadays it is more common for the bride and groom to wear the traditional western bridal clothes of white wedding gown for the bride and tuxedo for the groom as my son and daughter-in-law did. However, Korean customs were observed to the degree that the bride's mother and myself both wore the traditional hanboks.

Other Korean customs often observed is the exchange of gifts between the bride and groom prior to the wedding; gifts given by the bride's family to the significant kin of the groom; gifts of cash from the groom's kin to the bride, and gifts from the bride's family to the groom's friends. There is also an exchange of food and wine between both families, ritual silk given by the bride to the groom's significant kin and a gift box delivered to the bride's house the night before the wedding by friends of the groom. These customs were not observed in our case.

The most common gift for the couple is cash. Weddings are usually large with often the bride and groom not knowing many of their guests. The Korean goal is to have as many people at the wedding as possible to let it be known that the wedding is of import. Often the cash wedding gifts given at the wedding are given to the parents to help pay for the wedding. The exception to this are cash wedding gifts from close friends given directly to the wedding couple.

Following the official wedding festivities, there may be another ceremony called Pyebaek for the family members only. It is a time when the bride formally greets her new parents-in-law and food and drink are offered. This is the time the bride and groom will wear the traditional Korean wedding clothes as my son and daughter-in-law did. The custom also says that the groom will piggy-back his mother and his wife around which symbolizes his acceptance of his obligations to both of them. My son piggy-backed his wife but I declined. At this time the groom's family give cash in envelopes to the bride. The same is repeated with the bride's parents. Also both sets of parents throw chestnuts and dates into a decorated apron held by the bride and groom which they will catch. The amount of chestnuts they catch signifies the girl children they will have and the dates signify boy children.

If the Korean family have lived in the United States or Canada for some time, and particularly if their offspring is North American born, chances are the wedding will include more of the western customs and the bride and groom themselves will make the majority of the decisions regarding their wedding. This was the case with my other son and daughter-in-law.

Europe - The Best Way to Explore Your Destinations

Our main modes of transportation consisted of the Eurorail, TGV, Metro and walking. But, as with every other aspect of trip planning, it is important to research because there are numerous options available.

There is the choice of whether to get first or second class train tickets. There really is a difference between the two although in the end, both get you to where you want to go. With first class the seats are very comfortable with lots of leg room and ample space for luggage, as well as drinks are offered by passing porters. We chose this option because of the length of time we would be spending on Eurorail while travelling through three different countries.

However, from Paris to Switzerland, we chose the TGV train system which travels at 320 km hour and often faster. This cut our train travel for this leg of our journey from over six hours to about three hours. We chose not to make reservations which would have been an additional cost, deciding to take our chances on not having to wait. Because we left early for the train station, and because the trains leave hourly, we were fortunate in not having a long wait time.

While in Switzerland we were able to use our Eurorail pass. If we had not had this pass, we would've had to purchase Swiss passes for transportation while in Switzerland. Our Eurorail pass also gave us passage on the ferries in both Lucerne and Interlacken as well as the cogwheel trains we took up Rigi Kulm Mountain and Jungfrauloch Mountain in Switzerland. When we purchased our rail passes, based on the fact that we would be travelling to three countries, we got the three country, six day pass which was ideal for our requirements although as it turned out, the two country pass would've been sufficient since the TGV had to be purchased separately. The cost of the pass is determined by the number of countries you visit and the number of days you are using your pass. Purchasing Eurorail passes outside of Europe is cheaper. The open tour bus in Rome, however, was an additional cost. When travelling by train, we had to try and beware of what the station before our stop was so we could get our luggage and be ready to leave the train when it came in to the station.

While in Paris and Rome, we used the Metro system of transportation or by walking to our destinations. Both Metro systems were quite easy to use and in Paris in particular, almost every station had people available to answer questions. Also in Paris, the route you needed to take to get to the trail level you wanted was very clearly marked on the walls at each fork. While in Rome we only used their Metro system one day and had clear instructions on which line we needed to take and the station we had to get off. In both Paris and Rome Metro systems, the next station is shown overhead on a flashing sign so you are given ample warning.

The only taxi we took while in Europe was to the airport to catch our flights home. We could have taken a shuttle or bus to the train station which, between connections, would have taken several hours. For an early morning flight, and with the difficulty of having luggage to worry about, the cost of a taxi was well worth the extra money spent.

Before travelling, make sure to research, plan and organize so that things will go as smoothly as possible and time isn't wasted trying to get information when that time could be spent travelling and getting to your point of destination more quickly. This is especially true when your travel time is limited as ours was - three countries, eight cities and other specific areas in just two weeks.

Travelling Europe - The Hostel Way

On our first trip to Europe we decided to stay in hostels, mainly for economic reasons. When planning our trip, there were many things to consider before booking our accommodations.

These considerations were: cost, location, wifi accessibility and availability to transit and the major attractions. We also wanted a room that included breakfast, an ensuite bathroom, if possible, and a room with same sex occupancy but not a dorm. Because there were three of us this sometimes presented a problem and we had to sacrifice some of our desired requirements. One of these was ensuite bathroom which proved not to be particularly bad, and in some cases preferable, because often the separate bathrooms were larger than the ones in the room. Breakfast was the next thing on our list that we were willing to give up. Availability to transit was the most important even though we walked many miles each day while touring the cities we visited.

We began our search through hostels.com about five months before our planned departure. This was necessary because of our specific requirements and even then, in some cases, were unable to find what we wanted. Specifically, there were not many rooms for a group of three, same gender. While we were in Interlacken, Switzerland, we had a room for four and on our first night there were just the three of us. But on our second evening we returned to the hostel to find a partially clad man shaving at the sink in the room. Initially we thought we had the wrong room and, apologizing left, only to discover that he was to be our new room mate. My companions and I felt somewhat uncomfortable with this new development, particularly since we, by unspoken consideration for each other, confined ourselves and our things to our own bed areas. In the obviously short time the new arrival had been an occupant in our room, he had managed to disburse himself freely throughout the entire small room. Fortunately, there was another room available to him and we paid for the fourth occupancy to our room. In hindsight it was all quite humorous but I'm sure somewhat embarrassing for the poor man.

When doing our search for hostels, we read visitor reviews for each one but often these were more confusing than helpful because of the extremely diverse opinions of those who had stayed. Often reviews ran from extremely favourable to highly negative. As a result, a lot of our decisions were based on what seemed to be a dominant impression of the reviews. But like most things, reviews are subjective in most cases rather than objective.

Our hostel in the colourful Montmartre district of Paris was conveniently located to Metro and a short ride to the Champs-Elysses where many of the major attractions are located. It did have an ensuite bathroom and although very small, was convenient. Breakfasts consisted of cereal, croissants, fruit, coffee and juiice which was quite sufficient to jump-start our energy levels for our busy days. The age of the majority of visitors was in the twenties to early thirties range with few being older. We found this to be the case in most places we stayed except in Italy where there were more older visitors in the hostels. But everyone was always friendly regardless of age or language spoken.

In Lucerne we stayed at a lovely clean hostel for three with a separate bathroom across the hall. It didn't include breakfast but met all of our other requirements. Being close to transit in this case was not a requirement because the town was quite small and everything was within walking distance, the trains, ferry and most attractions. In Interlacken, although the city was much larger, the trains and ferry were very close and although they did not serve breakfast, they did have convenient kitchen facilities.

In Venice, Italy, because my daughter-in-law is Korean, she made arrangements for us to stay at a Korean hostel which was on one of the canals. Transportation was not a consideration in Venice because the main way of getting around is by walking. They did serve a breakfast which was a rather large feast, Korean style. The hostel in Florence was a room for four which we shared with an older lady from England who said she had travelled considerably, always staying in hostels. She said she quite enjoyed her experiences with hostel stays. Breakfast and dinner was served for a nominal fee, bathrooms were down the hall and it met all of our other requirements.

Our hostel in Rome was probably the best. Although they did serve a very basic breakfast, we were gone by then but they did have kitchen facilities where we could prepare anything we wanted for ourselves. We were within walking distance from Metro and within walking distance of some of the attractions, i.e.: the Colosseum, Paladine Hill and Trevi Fountain, although admittedly, they were extremely long walks.

When booking stays at hostels, it is important to note whether linen and towels are included. In some places they are and in others, rental is required. I brought my own towel but in most of the places these things were either included or were a very nominal charge to rent. Some places require that payment for rooms must be cash and other places will accept credit cards. We also did a thorough online search of the areas we were looking in to see what was available regarding restaurants and, was there a curfew, was it a noisy neighbourhood and was there a staff member on site at all times.

We were very fortunate with the hostels we chose, finding them all to be clean, comfortable and for the most part, meeting our requirements. It is certainly an inexpensive option when travelling not only for the young but for older travellers and families as well. I would certainly choose a hostel adventure again in the future.